Broadway musical 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' sets Manila run for July
Are you ready to step into a world of pure imagination?
Award-winning Broadway musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will make its Manila premiere on July 8 and run until July 26 at The Theater at Solaire in Parañaque City.
The Philippine leg follows the musical's sold-out run in Shanghai in November 2025 amid raving reviews from both critics and audiences.
Based on Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tells the story of young Charlie Bucket, whose golden ticket takes him into Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. Along with several other kids, Charlie finds all sorts of magic inside, from grouchy singing Oompa-Loompas to rivers made of chocolate.
Fans of the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder as Willy are in for a nostalgic turn as some of the movie's original songs will pop up in this stage version, including Pure Imagination, The Candy Man, and I've Got a Golden Ticket. Grammy and Tony Award winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (from Hairspray and Mary Poppins Returns) have created the rest of the original music.
On screen, the story is already a visual spectacle. Onstage, however, the production pulls out all the stops and presents a technically savvy fantastical world, with Las Vegas magic and illusion designer Tim Clothier creating "new stage wizardry" using, among others, hologauze 3D technology.
The Broadway production has staged over 300 performances since it premiered in 2017. It then went on a four-year North American tour until 2022, and also did a run on London's West End, where the musical received two Lawrence Olivier Awards in 2014 for costume design and lighting design.
Manila is among the production's stops in its global tour. The Asian leg, running for two to three years, includes performances in the Middle East, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Hainan, Taipei, and Seoul.
Customers of UnionBank of the Philippines can enjoy early ticket access from Jan. 12 to 15 at TicketWorld. GMG Productions will also hold a special waitlist until Jan. 14, 11:59 p.m., for early seating access. Tickets go on sale for the general public at TicketWorld on Jan. 17.
